Passage

As they jogged through the caves and tunnels it was evident that traversing the rough, uneven stone was as natural for the Veil as running over flat ground was for Fawn. Climbing the walls, whenever it needed to, seemed to require no additional effort. Fawn couldn’t help but wonder what would actually impose a physical challenge for the animal that was so capable of everything it took on.

They made a turn toward a tunnel that felt like an entirely new direction.

They steadily gained speed and galloped further and further along the tunnel. After a while, there was a movement from the ceiling.

The Veil slowed its steps and looked upward. There was clearly more movement coming from the ceiling of the corridor, and it was becoming more pronounced.

Gradually, the Veil came to a stop. Looking straight up and then forward, it slowly lifted its right arm, turned its palm face up and remained perfectly still.

Fawn stared at the apparent movement on the ceiling while she waited with her mount, tightening her grip on all fronts. There seemed to be a flickered pattern of subtle light making its way closer to them. She could make out a notably different texture against the darkened area ahead, then the movement stopped.

A snap of momentum shakes the stillness as something shoots from the ceiling with startling speed—a long, narrow, worm-like creature, its head a vicious array of separate barbs formed into a unified spear powered by its whole body.

It aims for the eye of the Veil, crossing the distance between the ceiling and its target in a blink.

Fawn, revolted at the sight, convulses in a retching reaction.

The Veil waits perfectly still, and just as the creature’s barbs are almost at its eye, there is another flash of movement.

The Veil flicks its hand past its own face with such speed that Fawn barely sees it move—slicing the head from the worm like it was made of water. Then, turning its palm back over it, places its hand once again down on the cave floor.

The body of the now-slaughtered worm began to peel away from the ceiling of the cave, a series of short tendrils responsible for keeping it in place falling lifeless along the body.

Looking up, Fawn could see the length of the irksome critter laid into the stone in a channel. It looked as though the thing had been traversing back and forth along the same path for cycles, and so had cut a groove.

The thing she was looking at seemed to be very old.

It must have lived here for so many cycles, just eating what came by, but ... what comes by here?

Fawn felt greatly relieved that she had not come this way alone. The visage of the new threat was very unsteadying. Its head even separated from its body seemed dangerous, and the fluid that constituted its blood was caustic like the substance that eroded the victims of the Veil.

There was a persistent accumulation of acidic materials from the environment, so these various animals were metabolizing the raw form of what they absorbed over time, and some were then weaponizing the by-product as a result.

Fawn looked down at the severed head leaking corrosives onto the floor of the cavern corridor. So far, all animals she had encountered were very dangerous and it was getting harder for her to believe that there was anything else.

The worry that she was not only hunted by her own kind, but also food for everything else, was a heavy burden. She felt her grip tighten on the one animal that was not trying to eat her, or at the very least, was willing to keep her alive.

The Veil slowly began to move again. With its eyes flicking from one point to another, it was searching in every direction at once. After a few paces something caught the Veil’s attention. It turned its head to the left and drew its face open as Fawn had seen it do, to eat once before.

It made a new sound, one that Fawn found very disconcerting.

As she turned to make out what it was looking at, she could see another worm sliding along the wall of the cave: it was embedded back and forth in a long trail. The head and tail were not easy to define. She could make out the small tendrils that it engaged to keep itself aloft, but not the head.

This creature must be dangerous as it made her powerful escort pause and reconsider its movements.

The Veil continued to make the sound. It was like the sound of moving stones that it had made before, only this time it was more intense and gained in volume.

In an instant one of the translucent gray coils of the worm twitches, and a spear-shaped head bursts forward from behind it. Without needing to move its body, the Veil snaps its jaws shut on the worm’s head as it makes an attempt to puncture its eye.

She can’t see it, but Fawn hears the crunch of the barbs and squelch of the torn flesh as another attacker falls into dead ribbons on the floor.

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She started to get the impression that there were a great many more of these unpleasant things, than was initially obvious. It was almost as though the walls and ceiling were the pathways through their home, or part of some kind of nest, but there was no evidence whatsoever that these things worked together.

Looking down, she could see the murky, translucent body that made up the strange animal. The skin had a cloudy irregularity to it, with dark spots underneath. It was almost like there were rocks under its thin skin, or accumulations of clotted blood sliding around beneath the surface. The appearance was uniquely awful, the acrid odor released into the tunnels, once it was cut and dying, so viscous and bitter, it took a toll on her senses.

“Oh Gods, no more.”

As if to make a point, she heard the rest of the creature’s body fall slowly from its groove in the wall, the slipping, soft sloshing sound on its own was enough to turn her stomach.

Moving forward with a steady caution, the Veil made its way with calm resolution and a high sense of its surroundings. Fawn found her willingness to watch where they were heading had faded almost entirely. Burying her head into her chest as best she could, she tried hard to ignore the horrid squishing noise as they trampled the worm bodies, and the acrid odor that resulted.

After a few safe steps forward, there was more movement above them, and just as the Veil pulled itself to a halt there was a rush from the ceiling.

There is not enough time for it to prepare its hands to defend itself. The worm focuses its force and strikes for the soft eye again.

The Veil moves its head just a bit, and the barbs of the worm impact solid bone just above its right eye. The worm leaves a prominent star-shaped wound in the Veil’s head.

The Veil staggers back and snarls from the impact. The wound is not deep but it has left a puncture.

“Ahh! No!”

Fawn is shocked by the sudden impact that wounds her savior. She grasps harder to the plates on its back.

In a moment the Veil regathers itself, and as the worm coils for a second strike, there is a presence of intense reaction in the muscles beneath Fawn’s legs.

The powerful predator feels like it is enraged beneath her. The Veil reaches its left hand behind its head and retrieves its Ward from its back. Clutching her to its chest, it rears up to its hind legs and roars.

It’s an immense sound that Fawn has no comparison for. It shakes her whole body, and she feels as though her organs move on their own.

The worm launches itself at the Veil once again. Standing and furious, the Veil is now fully prepared. It times a perfect snatch of the worm’s head in its free hand, and then pulling its thumb back, it slowly pierces the now-visible eye of the worm.

Driving the claw through the eye, and only part way into its skull, gradually and with massive force, it then waits for a moment, and watches the length of the worm’s body react against the ceiling rock.

Holding the screeching critter in its hand, it brings forward its tail, slamming it into the long, writhing body of the worm as it begins to lose purchase on the ceiling. Over and over, it strikes holes into the length it can reach.

The wailing and screaming of the trapped worm rattles painfully in Fawn’s head. She curls beneath the cover of the Veil’s hand and shields her ears.

As the full length of the worm falls from the ceiling, it impacts the various rocks and stalagmites about the floor. It ruptures from the weight of its body crashing on the rocks.

It breaks like a waterskin falling from a cliff, its organs and previous meals scattering viscera, and leaving the stench of life-long carrion to thicken the air.

The prolonged noises of suffering bring the attention of other worms, and as they move along the wall and ceiling toward the noise, the Veil narrows its focus.

There is nothing that can hide from the Veil’s sight in this place. No matter how dark, its eyesight is second to no living thing in darkness. It sees all that there is to see.

Tightening its hold on the frightened little girl beneath its palm, the Veil begins to cut into the stone floor with its long, clawed feet.

As more worms come from other places, gathering ahead of it, it builds torsion in its legs. Some of the worms start to reveal their barbed heads to an amassed hissing sound that crackles through the tunnel. The Veil draws a deep breath, shortening its stance. Finally, as the screeching of the restrained worm stops, there comes a moment of quiet.

A shearing sound rips through the cavernous space, shattering the silence. The Veil tears the stone it’s standing on by launching itself into a forward lunge, immediately slicing the head from the first worm it encounters in three places aligned with its claws.

Such speed and force comes from the blow, that it creates an instant splatter at the point of contact, and throws the head against the wall. The Veil then twists its body, making a spiral movement.

As its momentum carries it further along the tunnel, it disembowels and decapitates every worm that is drawn out. Left and right they drop away, pieces falling to the floor like shreds of viscera from a giant intestine.

Finally, the Veil slid to a stop with its feet under it at the end of its leap. The scene behind it is a mess of skin, blood and vivisected flesh. Nine dead worms are in pieces strewn about the tunnel, a gruesome reminder of the ferocity, will and accuracy of which the Veil is capable.

Gently unfurling its left hand to check on its precious cargo, it went back to the warm rumble it had made once before.

Fawn unwrapped herself and opened her eyes. Looking up at the once-terrifying visage, she found herself feeling something like comfort.

The Veil placed her on its back and carried on working its way outward, away from the battle scene behind it.

A fragment of light revealed itself far off in the distance.

Fawn was beginning to feel comfortable on the back of the Veil, after all, this creature of darkness was the reason that she had survived as long as she had, and without question had begun to take extra efforts to keep her not only alive, but well.

The sight of light growing as they approached was refreshing. For all her ability to see in this endless darkness, it would be nice to be in the light again, and there was more than a little curiosity building regarding where it was they were going to end up.

I wonder if other people came this way.

The idea that others may have made their way through this space over time was a mixture of encouraging and horrifying. She began to imagine what would have happened to her if she had come through alone, and felt herself shake visibly at the thought.

As they closed the distance, the light diminished, and it became evident that the sun was going down as they traveled. The possibility of greeting a nice warm morning like she used to from her sleeping-room window, and watching the sun dance across her skin, was fading further from likelihood.

Holding onto the Veil’s back was getting strenuous for her, as time and irregular surface made the ride rough. She leaned forward to stretch herself out somewhat and loosen her legs enough to feel like there was still blood in them.

Thankfully the Veil was moving more slowly and with greater fluidity than before, so she felt a moment of relaxation would not necessarily lead to her falling onto the stone. All the same, she felt no desire to bounce off the floor in an area where these worms might still be.

She regathered her strength and took hold once again. The light they were traveling toward was wide now, albeit meek. They arrived at the end of the tunnel during dusk.

Moving towards the light revealed more details on the back and shoulders of her carrier, and it was all so clean and purposed looking. The plates on its back were sleek with no rough, untidy components. There was no sign of tear nor scrape, and no evidence of anything unbecoming.

It was a curiosity how tidy this animal was in an environment that was vile and often disgusting. In the increasing light, she could make out the arrangement of the plates: four rows of three across its neck, currently closed forward. Why the plates were there, and capable of movement, was very much a mystery.

They emerged from the tunnel, and out into a desolate land. Fawn could see that they had passed through a mountain range, and come out to an area of cracked, irregular Plains, scattered with burnt stone and small, hardy looking plants. What she saw stretched seemingly forever into the distance.

–Garrick M Lynch–